Secret Service Tape From Reagan Attack To Be Released

WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly released Secret Service audiotape from the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan sheds lights on the chaotic aftermath when neither the president nor his agents realized he’d been shot.

In the 10-minute tape from March 30, 1981, agents at the scene are heard telling the Secret Service command post that shots were fired and people were injured but “Rawhide’s all right” and was being rushed back to the security of the White House. Rawhide was Reagan’s Secret Service code name.

Suddenly, one agent reports that the president’s limousine is changing course to George Washington University Hospital and another agent says, “Let’s hustle.”

The Secret Service released the tape Friday in response to a public records request by Del Wilber, author of a book out next week on the shooting.